Curb appeal: painting and shutters – Check!
Chers Amis,
Ta da! Our little blue cottage AKA le moulin is freshly painted with brand new handmade shutters grace a mon mari. Doesn’t it look better! I thought it would be fun to link up with Thrifty Decor Chick’s Before and After party for May.
After what seems like decades of discussion, We decided to use Sherwin Williams Wallstreet at 75% for the body of the house, SW snowbound for the trim, SW tricorn black or the shutters, and the door is SW Fireweed, a fabulous red. It is a much deeper, rich blue grey than these picture sh
ow. My battery is REALLY low and I think it is affecting the clarity and color and washing it out.
There is SO much left to do before the exterior is where we want it to be. Number one is putting down a brick or paver front walk to replace the concrete one dh ripped out along with ALL our foundation planting in front of the garage. I called a brick mason on how mu ch it would cost to have them do it – $18/square foot. Our walk will be roughly 150 square feet. It is NITB so we will DIY this too. I am absolutely THRILLED with what dh did with the shutters (see the detail pictures below) and I have faith that we can do it (fingers crossed). Tomorrow afternoon Pippin and I are going over to a brickyard to look at materials. We have some brick along the very bottom of our house so I will need to find something to match.Complicating the project is that the walkway is on a slope that drops @16 inches over 30 feet.
DH also wants to build flower boxes for three of the windows, add some Victorian gingerbread to the front porch, add a stone walkway on the back of the house to the deck, and grow tomatoes somewhere in the yard if we can find any full sun. We try this part every year and end up shopping at the farmer’s market 
I will try to get up a DIY how to post on building your own shutters. They are beastly expensive if yo
u buy them – upwards of $275/window for the smaller ones x 8 = way too rich for our blood. Enter DH, a table saw, and a garage full of lumber. The painting company’s carpenters who put them up were extremely impressed with how they turned out. So was I I just hope the front walk turns out as well!
** Update!! – DH came home Saturday morning with some exciting materials and plan for the walkway. Gosh, I love that guy. Thank goodness he is a choleric. Check out this post on temperaments, remodeling, and our walkway project here.
–Marjorie
PS – for a great post about ways to improve your curb appeal check out Centsational Girl here. I think we have done or scheduled every one on the list!
magnifique ! bravo à tous les 2
I must admit it was a joint project. He did all the cutting (boy, was there a lot of cutting),drilling, screwing of hardware, etc. but we worked together on measuring, squaring, marking, attaching, priming, and sanding. I think it took us 3 full weekends and many week nights, but we saved a ton and it makes a huge difference on the look of the house. I can’t wait for you et M. to see it!!!!!
Would love to get instructions on how to make the shutters. We, too, have a blue house with white trim and have been wanting to add black shutters to add dimension. We are fairly handy. Would love to know what kind of wood you used and how you fastened it all together. Thanks!
Terrie Sue,
I will try to put together either an e-mail or a post with pictures on
how we made the shutters from start to finish. It wasn’t terribly
difficult, just time consuming. My husband is an accountant, so if we
could do it anyone can! Off the top of my head, to get started I
would tell you to find a design you like, measure your windows and the
distance between windows if you have them in pairs like we do.
Equipment needed: a sander, a table saw (you could use a circular or
miter saw , but we bought a table saw for this project and were very
glad), a good drill, a builder’s square, clamps!!!!!! Clamps are key.
You will also need something you can use as a template i.e. cardboard,
marking pencils, patience, and thick skin! Oh, eye protection too. For
how many windows are you trying to make shutters?